Dear Facebook, it’s time we parted our ways

Dear Facebook,

It is with some sadness that I write this letter and it’s too bad it has come to this but you just won’t learn and it’s time I move on with my life.

Yes, we wasted much time looking at messy babies, fluffy dogs and viral memes together – time that I’ll never get back. Worst of all, you wasted my time and you polluted my opinions with fake news, political propaganda and ads aimed at brainwashing me and making me vote certain ways, for someone else’s benefit.

It was fun, at times, tagging my friends in posts about oversized wine glasses that could fit an entire bottle’s worth of vino, or making sarcastic remarks on their photos. Posting videos of myself looking like a bunny, a puppy or Bambi in my story and checking who cared enough about me to watch them till the end. Expressing my civil rights by sharing links that made me dream, scoff or those that made my blood boil. Judging, evaluating, liking, loving, disliking, laughing, wow-ing, being sad or angry and trying to fit all other emotions in the seven you allowed me to have.

I admit I did use you, at times, too. You know, to stalk my exes, to try to figure out how much weight exactly my old classmates had gained since we last saw each other, or to question my life choices in light of my peers’.

But you used me too, in ways I can no longer accept and that I won’t forgive. You made me take silly quizzes, “just for fun,” and then you profited from my answers, simply handing them to third parties to do with as they pleased, without my knowledge or explicit consent. You made me tell you who my real friends were so you could learn more about them and hand over that data, too.

You cared little about what this data was going to be used for. You accepted payment for ads targeting me and my friends, based on data we willingly gave you. You basically made money off of us, from shady sources who didn’t have our best interests at heart. You also allowed third parties to misinform us in a systematic way. When you were publicly called out on your questionable practices, you did nothing but wash your hands by having your attorneys send out a few letters, you know, for the record.

You managed to fool many of us, your loyal users, for years. We closed our eyes, thinking all tech giants do this with our data, but we were wrong. You are an unscrupulous, profiteering organization, just like your founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg.

It’s time for us to stop giving you access to our cameras, microphones, location and… lives. It’s time you stopped abusing our trust.

So long, Facebook. I’m not just deactivating my account this time – I am deleting it. And you better truly take care of deleting all my data, or you’ll have to cease existing in Europe. GDPR is coming to get you and you better be ready.

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Seek la Femme

The Seek la Femme team is made up of young, busy, fearless femmes who aren’t afraid to blab their minds at any given chance. We’re spread all over the world, united by our passion to share our experiences as women and empower others who’re going through similar quests.